Garden State Vacuum

Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey's Democratic senior U.S. Senator, died yesterday, and he left a great legacy of legislation and advocacy for the causes he so dearly believed in, including responsible driving (he wrote the law setting the national drinking age at 21), improved rail transit, and gun control.  That legacy is about to be sullied by a special election that could cause more of a mess.

Christie has scheduled a general election for October 16 (a Wednesday?), with a primary election set for August 13.  Skeptics have suggested that he doesn't want the special election to be held in tandem with the New Jersey gubernatorial and state legislative elections on November 5, lest Democratic turnout is increased in the regular election.  This may also keep Democratic turnout in the special election low.  But the October 16 election has its own problems.  The logistics of holding a special election so close to the November 5 vote are likely to be complicated - not to mention the money involved.  Christie will appoint someone in the meantime - a Republican, no doubt - to temporarily fill Lautenberg's seat, but it could get messy if he chooses a  senator who might want to run for the seat in the special election.  It will definitely be messier still for the winner, no matter who it is, because he or she then has to run again in November 2014 for a full six-year term.  Governor Christie will likely fill someone who doesn't want to run in October, if only because he may want to avoid choosing a Republican that doesn't get the support of the Tea Party, thus freeing him from getting in to the fray.  

Christie did score one political coup.  By declaring a special election - which may not have even been necessary, given the closeness of the 2014 election for the seat - he will likely have drawn attention away from the 2013 state election campaigns, which doesn't permit anyone to focus on state issues very much.  Because the Republicans are looking to win control of the Assembly and/or the state Senate, the special election would divert attention from economic issues and some social issues that benefit Democrats.  (As for Christie's own chances of re-election,  he's already a shoo-in.)

It's going to be a mess no matter how you look at it.